RACE REPORT: Inaugural Ninja Night Race

Post-race portraits by Matthew Hulet 

October 24, 2013 will go down in history as the night of the very first USAC Sanctioned Night Race. Kudos to the organizers and thanks to the sponsors, it was an awesome time.

I was doing my best to contribute to the set up in some way all afternoon (though apparently my pop-up tent skills need work ...) so I didn't really get a chance to pre-ride the course. With 40 minutes til "go" I hopped on my trusty steed and quickly went over to the second half of the loop where I heard there would be baby heads and water crossings. 

I quickly found myself alone on the trail, in the dark, with a pack of coyotes for company. Oh yeah, important to remember: I'm Scared Of The Dark. And the toothy things in it. 

I pedalled back to the start/finish area at a rate a little higher than "warm up," which by now had a very festive vibe about it. The Tamale guys had arrived and Zumwalt's was providing an awesome neutral support service. They pumped up my tires and threw in a derailleur adjust while they were at it! Thanks guys! 

Chatting on the start line

It's been awhile since I felt in any way racy, but with a pile of base miles under my belt I'm finally starting to feel at least fit again so I was stoked to be on a line. Coach Richard, Ninja Boss, said "Go" and I WENT. 

... disappearing into the night off the start

Had a really fun start, and took the hole shot too. My first time through the single track wasn't pretty but it seemed to be effective as I held the lead until the second half of the first lap. That's when Lisa Hauck went by me. I hopped on her wheel, happy to hide behind her on the open section of the course. She started pulling away and I thought, that's okay, I'll get her ...

Which is a great reminder. In racing, NEVER wait. 

So, Lisa had a great race. She just kept pulling away ... away .... away ... and she was gone. Just a tiny red blinky, teasing me in the distance. (At least I think that was her ....)

For the second lap I just aimed to keep it steady and clean and even managed to stay on the course. By now, the categories were mixing up so I was riding in a constant state of readiness in case the light coming up behind me belonged to another female. With only a few minutes of racing left to go, I was feeling pretty comfortable in second. That's when Amy Comalli got around me. 

Awesome ride for her, but I sure felt that. 

I couldn't let her just have it, so I pushed with whatever I had left after an hour of dust clogging my lungs and my heart setting new records. Turns out it really was hers, but I was delighted to watch her headlight make more than one pass over her shoulder on the lookout for me. 

So I rolled through as the third fastest female of the evening feeling pretty pumped. At the awards, I got a surprise --  I actually WON my category so I got to stand on the top box anyway. Hurray for age groups! Which by the way, if you noticed the podium at the event, each box had the Japanese character for 1, 2 and 3 lit up with lime green cellophane. Pretty jazzy. Results are here.

Surprise! I win, kinda

I won a cool Ninja cup for my efforts, and enjoyed a delicious tamale which was included with each riders' entry fee. I even won a raffle prize --  a giant bag of HEED which I can't have thanks to wheat allergies, so I got the added joy of giving it away to someone else. 

All in all a super fun night. Can't wait for the next one! 

Some Ninjas, standing around. Check out more event photography by Pink Shorts

Ride Like a Ninja

This weekend was another great instalment with San Diego Mountain Bike Skills clinics where I've been helping out, coaching. While I'm enjoying a transitional period in my life, it seems I have finally got to the part where I get to give back to the sport that's given me so much. And I love every second of it!

Saturday morning was especially exciting because it was our first go at the new venue, Lake Hodges. It's also the home of the Quick 'n Dirty races, so hopefully our fresh batch of "ninjas" will take their new-found confidence to this amazing local series. USAC Cycling Coach Richard La China (who is also an IMBA certified skills instructor -- one of the first in the U.S.) is our fearless leader. His courses are well organized and designed to help participants progress to their next level, no matter what level they arrived at.

We covered basic/intermediate skills like cornering (both high-speed and switchbacks), proper positioning, drops, technical descents and of course everyone's favourite, climbing. It's such an awesome feeling watching a rider who started the day saying "I can't do it," rip around a tight switchback, rail a corner, or take on a gnarly drop safely and successfully.

So amazing in fact, I decided on Sunday I would switch from assistant coach to participant for our advanced Flow and Efficiency clinic. Figured if I'm going to tackle those B.C. Bike Race singletracks, I'd better make sure I've got my "tool-box" packed to overflowing. And the sooner the better.

As mountain bikers, we are notoriously susceptible to throwing out the homework and enjoying the ride (I know ... it's irresistible) rather than stopping to practice, practice and practice some more. We fail to lock down our most basic skills because it's "the easy stuff", or there's that [insert more interesting trail feature here] we want to level-up on. But everyone knows you can't build up your skills unless you've got a strong foundation. In racing especially, there are so many seconds -- minutes, even -- to be won not by riding more base miles, but by spending time riding around orange cones in tighter and tighter configurations at the soccer pitch near your house.

Let's compare beginning on a mountain bike to beginning on a snowboard. As Coach Richard explains, at your first snowboard lesson, you start with the very basics. How to strap in, how to stop, how to turn. You slowly move up to linking turns together. And so on. There are SO MANY skills in mountain biking but we gloss over them and spend our time working on fitness, hoping the rest just falls into place.

I don't know, maybe I'm just speaking for myself and my lackadaisical past. But if you find yourself nodding along, check out San Diego Mountain Bike Skills and I promise, you'll be riding like a ninja in no time -- even if you already consider yourself to have a black belt.